HSTEU 205 WEEK 3 DISCUSSION SECTION

Section will focus on image of women in Malleus Maleficarum (K&P, 176-204) and
       Bernardino of Siena’s sermon against women practicing magic (133-137).

Some questions are included to guide your reading of other documents as well.

Kramer & Sprenger, Malleus Maleficarum, K&P, 176-204 

What image of women is reflected here?  Why, in the opinion of these authors, are
      women more likely to take up witchcraft?  What kinds of crimes do witches commit? 
Why are midwives particularly suspect?

What do Kramer & Sprenger add to the diabolical pact as presented in Aquinas?

What is their attitude to the Canon Episcopi?

What sources do Kramer & Sprenger draw on to support their argument? 
When they refer to their own “experience,” what kind of experience are they referring to? 
Why would this manual have been convincing to readers?

Witchcraft and demonological literature has been described as the pornography of the late
       Middle Ages.  If so, what kinds of sexual attitudes and fears are expressed in
       descriptions of the powers of demons & witches?  (For instance, incubi & succubi.) 
       What do you make of the bird’s nest story ?? (p. 203)

What is real and what is illusory in the things attributed to demons ?

Bernadino of Siena sermon against women sorcerers (1427): K&P, 133-137

Why is Siena threatened with the wrath of God?

What kinds of magical activities are people using?  For what purposes?

What does Bernardino mean by “Know that she or he who claims to have the
             power to break a charm knows as well, be assured, how to work one”? (p.135)

In 1424, Bernardino presided over a witch trial in Rome. What can we learn about the
                   trial from his account three years later?

For next week, WK IV:

Malleus on how to conduct a witch trial: K&P, 204-229

How does procedure in witch trials differ from that in ordinary criminal trials? 
       What special problems do witches present to the judicial system?
      What steps do Kramer & Sprenger suggest that judges take to deal with these problems?

Pope Innocent VIII, Summis desiderantes affectibus  1484 (K&P #33, pp. 177-180)

How do the crimes attributed to witches here differ from those referred to in earlier
       papal bulls included in Kors & Peters volume?

Are the people in Germany supportive of the Inquisitors’ activity?

Nicolas Eymeric, The Inquisitor’s Guide  1376 (K&P, #22, pp. 120-127)

How does Eymeric’s role as an Inquisitor influence his approach to magic?
For instance, how does it compare to that of Thomas Aquinas?

What is significance of the parallel Eymeric draws between magicians and Mohammedans? 
       (Note that Eymeric is from Aragon in northern Spain.)

What are latria & dulia in scholastic theology?  How does Eymeric use these categories
       to describe magicians’ relationship to demons?

Compare Eymeric’s analysis of the Canon Episcopi with the text itself. 
       Is he reading the Canon Episcopi correctly?  (Note influence of the sorcery model.)